Articles & Case Studies

Marriott Hotel, County Mall teams up with KGN Pillinger for energy efficient booster set

Posted: Wednesday 29th January 2014

The Marriott Hotels group has teamed up with KGN Pillinger to replace the obsolete water booster set at their luxury County Hall Hotel, London with a variable speed, energy efficient unit.

Situated in the heart of Westminster on the bank of the River Thames, opposite Big Ben and adjacent to the London Eye, County Hall is one of the city’s most remarkable and prestigious landmark buildings.

When asked why they chose KGN Pillinger over their competitors, Marriott Assistant Chief Engineer, Adam Faulkner said: “We received three quotations for an upgrade to our current booster set and although KGN were not the cheapest we were impressed by the thought and time that was put into the quotation and methodology behind it.”

“Our current booster set is approximately 15 years old and has a problem with the phase loop controller which is an expensive item and one of the pumps is noisy as the bearings need attention. We also have a PRV inline which needs to be serviced regularly. KGN can offer us, not only the core product, but regular servicing on all of our equipment too”

The new booster set was designed and manufactured at KGN’s base in Croydon and delivered within the timescale requested by the client. Engineers from the firm then attended site, isolated and removed the existing booster set, positioned and installed the new unit and made all necessary pipework modifications and electrical connections to the existing supplies.

The total flow rate and pressure by the new booster set is 48 l/s @ 7.5 bar. The pumps are configured to operate on a Duty-Assist-Assist-Assist combination producing 12 l/s per pump and each 15kw motor has been fitted with its own Hydrovar inverter.

Adam Faulkner continued: “Since the installation of the new KGN booster set we have noticed that the pumps do not need to run as often and with the introduction of the variable speed drives they are noticeably quieter and ramp down to a minimum rpm when demand is low. We’re not yet able to measure an exact comparison of electricity consumption however it is very clear savings will be made. We will also utilise the volt free contacts to get feedback from the BMS.

“All the KGN engineers that attended site were professional, courteous, punctual and knowledgeable”, he added.